Smithfield Foods (NASDAQ:SFD) Reaches New 1-Year Low – What’s Next?

Smithfield Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFD)’s stock price hit a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Tuesday. The stock traded as low as $18.31 and last traded at $18.32, with a volume of 165,291 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $18.48.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on SFD. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $32.00 target price on shares of Smithfield Foods in a report on Wednesday, August 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $21.00 price objective on Smithfield Foods in a research report on Friday, October 9th. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Smithfield Foods from $31.00 to $29.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, September 9th. Zacks Research cut Smithfield Foods from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 13th. Finally, Stephens initiated coverage on shares of Smithfield Foods in a research note on Wednesday, September 30th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $22.00 target price on the stock. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $26.00.

Smithfield Foods Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 2.56, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The company has a 50 day moving average of $20.89 and a 200-day moving average of $24.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.82 and a beta of -0.41.

Smithfield Foods (NASDAQ:SFD) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 11th. The company reported $0.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $3.70 billion for the quarter. Smithfield Foods had a return on equity of 15.55% and a net margin of 6.84%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.55 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Smithfield Foods, Inc. will post 2.03 EPS for the current year.

Smithfield Foods Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 13th were paid a $0.3125 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 13th. This represents a $1.25 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.8%. Smithfield Foods’s payout ratio is 46.64%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of SFD. Wedmont Private Capital purchased a new position in Smithfield Foods in the third quarter worth $996,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Smithfield Foods by 5,392.2% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 20,376 shares of the company’s stock valued at $381,000 after acquiring an additional 20,005 shares during the period. CX Institutional raised its position in Smithfield Foods by 15,876.9% during the 3rd quarter. CX Institutional now owns 4,154 shares of the company’s stock valued at $78,000 after purchasing an additional 4,128 shares during the last quarter. Core Capital Management & Research inc. purchased a new stake in Smithfield Foods in the second quarter worth $6,656,000. Finally, Engineers Gate Manager LP boosted its stake in shares of Smithfield Foods by 2,584.3% during the 2nd quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP now owns 351,055 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,517,000 after purchasing an additional 337,977 shares in the last quarter.

About Smithfield Foods

Smithfield Foods, Inc is a vertically integrated food company focused on pork production and packaged meats. Its operations include raising livestock, processing and packaging pork, and distributing fresh pork and prepared foods. The company’s products include bacon, ham, sausage, hot dogs, lunch meats, fresh pork cuts and other refrigerated and shelf-stable meat products.

Smithfield markets products under brands including Smithfield, Eckrich, Farmland, Nathan’s Famous and Healthy Ones, as well as private-label offerings for retailers and food-service customers.